Shaun1105

You chose a great shop and amazing artist for your first tattoo (but you knew that)! I have a small piece by Tim myself. On any given day, if you go to the Pearl you stand a decent chance of seeing forum member @Mark Bee hanging around or getting tattooed, at least it seems that way sometimes. He's got great stuff done by Tim too. Welcome to the forum!

There was very little doubt about this one! Congrats on a truly great tattoo @Russ

So really, if you left this artist and never went back you wouldn't be forfeiting a $650 deposit, you would just lose what's remaining. So like $450 at most, right? You might be happier in the long run by just doing that. Either way, I hope it works out and you're happy with the result. PS: Since your one tattoo seems to indicate you are a person of faith, I recommend you check out my tumblr Better Christian Tattoos.

Only two of my five tattoos (the larger ones) were drawn up in advance, and I didn't ask for any changes because they were awesome already. My first tattoo I actually did ask for a very minor change and it wasn't an issue. I was a bit surprised when he drew it up that day, because most of my friends seemed to be emailing designs back and forth with their artists in advance. Now I know that trying to control your tattoo down to the smallest detail isn't going to end up looking as good as just letting the artist handle the art.

There's no such rule that I'm aware of. You see it more as a big piece because it makes a badass back or chest piece. With any detailed tattoo you want to go as big as possible, and the 3 animal battle royal is pretty detailed. Your upper arm should be plenty of space - go as big as you can!

@Russ you would have had a chance to win three months in a row with those tattoos! Great panther!

I plan to be there. Hopefully I can convince my plainskin wife to join me (maybe she'll want to get tattooed there?). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@Mark Bee Your chest just showed up on my facebook feed and of course I recognized it right away. Looks fantastic!

Those are really awesome! Aaron Coleman does amazing, super fast work.

This is the kind of music I'm currently into as well. So many artists on here that I'm not familiar with though - I've got a lot of listening to do! Oddly, I've been listening to the New of Monsters and Men album a lot this week, and also just discovered Townes Van Zandt. Then this thread appears a day later. It's the kind of thing that makes me think there's a glitch in the matrix. Some that aren't mentioned that I like: The Tallest Man on Earth Iron and Wine The Decemberists

I'll go ahead and get this month started - edit: almost!. All months should really have a panther tattoo, shouldn't they? I'd love to see Aaron Coleman three-peat.

Congratulations @embers! Great tattoo.

Thanks guys! It is an awesome tattoo, and I owe it all to LST (and Aaron Coleman of course - and my cousin who helpfully got married in Arizona). @Mark Bee, I did throw a fairly poor quality pic of the fresh tattoo up in the "latest lowdown" thread but I didn't want to put anything in this one until I got a good healed picture. @guitguy - you can so get a crawling panther. If there's one thing Last Sparrow has taught me it's that everyone can get a crawling panther tattoo.

I am @shaunsomers. Currently featuring 67% tattoos and 33% dog photos. But I just put the first three pics up today. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks to this thread for making me aware of Aaron Coleman, who does indeed do amazing panthers! Healed shots: edit: I don't know why I can't get the closeup to be the right way up.

Watched it last night - it's really good. I now really want to get to Frith Street - and not even to get tattooed (though of course I would) but just to meet some of these amazing people.

Welcome, fellow Canadian! Whereabouts are you located? Can we see the tattoo(s) that have begun your collection?

Best place for the best tattoo, imo. I will get Pharaoh's Horses on my belly eventually as well. I keep a small tumblr to help me decide who will eventually have it done by - FYPH.

Just about every tattoo is better with flames.

If you ate two meals at a good restaurant and weren't disappointed, would you never seek out new restaurants ever again? :) I am not sure of wait times, since I booked in about 3 or 4 months in advance because I was travelling. But don't worry too much about cost. Aaron Coleman tattoos extremely fast, so even if he has a higher hourly rate than what you have paid in the past I'd bet the cost would be very similar.

Google maps tells me that your route should take you through Phoenix, AZ. If that's correct, I highly suggest checking out Immaculate Tattoo in Mesa. Anyone there will give you a great tattoo.

While we generally don't like to talk specific numbers/prices around here, I would say it makes sense. Most people have no idea what a quality tattoo costs. It is going to be on you for the rest of your life - going cheap makes no sense at all.

Welcome! I like your cobra/ankh tattoo. I was just visiting the Phoenix area last month, though I didn't get to see a whole lot because I was only in town for a few days and had a wedding to attend. (Of course I got tattooed though. I went to Immaculate Tattoo in Mesa - found it as a result of LST!)

Maybe Google has gotten smarter in the past year, but I got a lot more stuff like this: Edinburgh Tattoo than useful artist stuff when I was doing my own research in late 2012.